7 Days Until LOST Season 6 (Mini)-Premieres in Waikiki, Hawai’i
[caption id="attachment_3101" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="View From Hale Koa (Nearish to Waikiki)"]
[/caption]As millions of LOST fans dodge spoilers, wrap up re-watch and finalize their best guesses on what happens after Juliet smacks the bomb, the Waikiki Improvement Association [WIA] and ABC/Disney studio marketing peeps are gearing it up, locking it down and rolling out the red carpet for what could be the single largest premiere event in television history.
On January 30, Sunset On The Beach, a WIA sponsored program that offers free, family-friendly movies viewed on a 30ft screen set up directly on Waikiki Beach, will host the highly anticipated, rabidly debated and virally marketed premiere of LOST’s sixth and final season. A full-court media parade of LOST heavies will walk the red carpet, including writer/producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and (yet unconfirmed) number of cast and crew members. (FYI: Matthew Fox had better be there. That's all I'm saying.)
This will be the first time since S3 that LOST has premiered at Sunset On The Beach. S4’s was cancelled in the wake of the writer’s strike (and my pal Gina has never forgiven WAG for that because she moved off-island six months later), and S5’s was never scheduled at all. No one was more irked than me (being 20 minutes away from Waikiki but only for a limited time). I kept my ear on the ground, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
LOST Fans Rock -- LOST Fans Rule!
And I got nothing. After Damon and Carlton did a fan tribute skit-type deal at ComiCon (07/29/2009), the "We Love All You Crazy LOST Fans!" phase of ending the show seemed to run out of steam, and by the time I attended the Hawai'i International Film Festival [HIFF] sponsored "Evening with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse" (10/17/2009), it seemed unlikely ABC/Disney would revisit the event for S6. They obviously didn't need the publicity (I dare you to find a TV watcher who DOESN'T know about LOST ending).
But LOST fans are not like the ordinary fans. ABC/Disney's apparent failure to cater to our needs phased us NOT AT ALL. LOST fandom is about asking the questions without fear! Luckily, a fan from Japan (also in attendance) was able to specifically ask the entire LOST panel 1) if another "premiere party" was in the works and 2) would they please do one for S6 because he lives in Japan but flew in for the last one (S3), and it was the most amazing experience just being there with everyone else, with all the other fans.
[caption id="attachment_3107" align="alignright" width="200" caption="LOST FANS UNITE!"]
[/caption]From what I saw onstage the panel seemed 1) surprised by the suggestion and 2) clueless about the answer. I actually felt for them a little because this guy was really nice without sucking up and very sincere without whining, and they were like "uh..." and looked a bit guilty for not having an answer.
After the premiere was announced, I was SO wanting that guy's question to have started the ball rolling (that would have been an EXCELLENT story!). But no. Turns out, ABC/Disney is on top of our needs after all (because they are SMART). An ABC/Disney spokesperson told me yesterday that the event has been under construction for some time. However, they were hindered by lack of a solid premiere date (I wonder what a day at the office was like when the State of The Union malarky went down?) and couldn't release any kind of announcement without one (because that would be a DUMB thing to do, and like I said, they are SMART).
And So It Begins
Although the premiere is technically just a ‘sneak peak’ -- they'll only be showing the first hour. The full two-hour premiere airs February 2, on ABC -- thousands of fans are expected to flock to the island of O’ahu, where LOST has been primarily filmed since the pilot (O'ahu is where Honolulu and Pearl Harbor are. Everybody screws that up, so I thought I'd just throw that in there).
[caption id="attachment_3104" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="A View of Waikiki/Diamond Head From Just About Where The 30ft. Screen Will Be For The LOST Premiere"]
[/caption]WIA event coordinator Janet Maduli is not surprised at all by the overwhelming response.
“I’ve worked on every premiere since the beginning, but the one I remember is 2006 [Season 3]. It stormed. We were soaked, but the level of excitement [of the fans] was incredible.” Over eight thousand fans attended that year. Maduli expects thousands more this time around.
“Waikiki is ‘The Gathering Place.’ With Diamondhead on one side and Waikiki on the other – there’s no other place like it.”
Which is appropriate, don't you think? Since there's no other fans like LOST fans (which would be why we started LOSTBLOG.com in the first place!).
UP NEXT: COUNTDOWN TO THE FINALE: Fans On Walkabout
